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Hi ... I registered for this forum long long ago -- pre-Obama, I think -- but went into hibernation while he was President, and now am 'woke' (but not in that sense -- to all the nice ladies who might have made improper suggestions to me in the past ... you have nothing to fear, I am NOT going to complain!)

No, 'woke' in the sense that a 'firebell in the night', to use that famous metaphor from American history, might wake you. No single event, but if I had to choose one, it would be Elizabeth Warren's endorsement of the Martyred Michael Brown Myth. I won't go into who he was, most people reading this probably know.

So .. what about me? I am an American -- a REAL American, from Texas, not New York or California -- but I have lived abroad for most of life and am now living in the UK.

Like my whole family, in my youth (we're talking Eisenhower and JFK and LBJ here) I was a Democrat, albeit a very liberal one to start with, and then I moved Lefter. Everyone in my neighborhood in Houston was a Democrat. And also all my kin in South and West Texas. Hell, we didn't even know any Republicans. (There was a rumor that there was one in Dallas, but nobody believed it.) They're all Republicans now. They didn't leave the Democratic Party, it left them, as the saying goes.

I was a very serious Marxist for two decades. I know this sounds impossible, like the Devil becoming a Southern Baptist, but the world is complicated.

Anyway, I''ve been a conservative for about thirty years, at least by my own lights. You might not think so, but remember Reagan and the big tent.

I have recently been 'debating' on a leftwing forum -- called Friendly Atheist, and only one of those two words is true -- with some radical left 'progressive' youngsters -- at least I think they're young, which would partially excuse their ignorance. They start off thinking I'm a green-toothed redneck white supremacist Trump ignoramus.

That's a bit annoying, because I have a PhD in Computer Science, teach mathematics and physics, and have read more books than these kids have smoked marijuana joints. (Which isn't hard -- they actually don't read any books at all. What do they do in college nowadays?) They call me a 'racist' and i tell them I was a Civil Rights worker during Freedom Summer, got chased down a dark road by real racists, and even raised and delivered money for the Deacons for Defense and Justice (look it up), a group of Southern Blacks who definitely didn't believe in Gun Control, not with the Klan around.

Back in those days, liberals/radicals like me fought for the right of Blacks to use the white bathrooms.
Now liberals/radicals fight for the right of boys to use the girls bathrooms. Where in the hell are we going? Are these people insane?

So ... I've become very very worried about the direction America is taking. I think we're on the high road to something catastrophic. Health care, a minimum wage -- these are trivial issues. You can have some socialism and see that it's a bad think and back out of it. Many European countries have done that, including Sweden. But once you have an increasing number of people, your upcoming generations and the brightest among them at that, who no longer love their country, who despise its history, who will not say the Pledge of Allegiance or who even burn the flag --- YOU ARE DOOMED. Especially in a country like America, which is not an ethnic state -- it's only held together by patriotism.

I'm also a student of history -- it was actually my first degree, at an Ivy League college -- and I have specialized in societies on the verge of collapse. (I did this 'professionally' as a Marxist, as you can imagine. But I've continue since then. Lots of lessons to be learned from the Marxists, by the way. I wish we had a conservative Lenin.)

In the time I have left I want to do whatever I can to counter this trend. I personally think we will have to think the unthinkable at some point, but in the meantime .. to quote the poet.... let us not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.

So I'm here to rage a bit and find some fellow ragers and talk about what to do. There is such a thing as the 'wisdom of crowds'. I hope I can bring something to the table that most conservatives can't -- at a minimum I know how the enemy thinks. Uncle Sam also trained me as an 11B10 but let's not go there.

Anyhow, warm greetings to all my fellow conservatives, and to any of you from New York or California I was just kidding. Sort of.

Tickled to see another texican in the mix. A belated welcome to the speaking parts and you will find a conflagration of your liking I believe.
I have a question for you which I will post in the lounge. I would appreciate any feedback.

Oh! Be sure to keep your flak jacket near at hand.

It's not how old you are, it's how you got here.It's been a long road and not all of it was paved.. If you ain't havin' fun, it's your own damn fault

Welcome!!!
Glad to see another "thinking" individual on the planet.
I too went from "liberal" to conservative, 'cept I can't pinpoint a time or circumstance for the conversion. In all honesty, it could have very well been when, as a teen earning his own money, I saw the check stub & what Uncle Sam was claiming as his own, and then learning of the WASTE of the gov't on stuff like "The sex life of Outer Mongolia's Miniature Dust Mite".
I was in the conservative camp by the time Eisenhower was dreaming of the I-State system.
anyhow, again, welcome!!!